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Cell biology

Organelle formation from scratch

Nature volume 542, pages 174–175 (2017)Cite this article

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Cellular organelles called peroxisomes aid metabolism, and defective peroxisome formation can cause disease. It emerges that peroxisomes can form de novo from the fusion of vesicles derived from two distinct organelle types. See Letter p.251

Membrane-bound cellular organelles such as peroxisomes, mitochondria and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) have protein machineries that allow selective protein import and organelle proliferation. These organelles arise by the growth and division of pre-existing organelles1, but peroxisomes can also arise de novo in cells that lack peroxisomes2. Understanding the mechanism of de novo peroxisome formation will refine our understanding of organelle regulation, and could shed light on the evolutionary origin of peroxisomes. On page 251, Sugiura et al.3 report that vesicles derived from both mitochondria and the ER are involved in de novo peroxisome formation in human cells.

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Figure 1: Peroxisome formation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ewald H. Hettema is in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.,

    Ewald H. Hettema

  2. Stephen J. Gould is in the Department of Biological Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 2120, USA.,

    Stephen J. Gould

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  1. Ewald H. Hettema
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  2. Stephen J. Gould
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Correspondence to Ewald H. Hettema or Stephen J. Gould.

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Hettema, E., Gould, S. Organelle formation from scratch. Nature 542, 174–175 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21496

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